Friday, May 19, 2017

Suggestions
of secrets that are the secrets of old rare book collector’s secrets that I
have made seem elemental and conceptually standard?Obsession, romance, appreciation and ‘of art’... ‘of the
(old rare) book’ is, from you to I, an “I get it” and “Please move on”.That is just vile of you... isn’t
it.It perpetuates; continues...
the damnation ofthe old rare book
in our modern ‘now’.“So smart
(phone)” and it (old rare books) is “over”.

The
(old rare) book is over.When you
stand in conversation “with a” who has, behind them and over their shoulders a
‘shelves of’ “BOOKS” that should cause your furtive eye to escape from indolent
chatter and scrutinize that; the shelves of ‘spine ends out’.It is radiant energy from a hidden
source waiting your bask.Hot
fresh shelves of title truth behind a mask of persona and their graceful
pretend?Yes.Reach past them and shelve your titled
self there too: an old rare books collector’s secrets... have no secrets of
those secrets that they may hide.Their old rare book collection IS behind them... on a shelf.It is you who falters and fails to
‘step to that’:“They are just old
books”... on a shelf.

What
stories may they (these books) tell?Actually they speak of nothing at all these days.Fraudulent perpetration of admiral
efforts to ‘appear’ to be a well booked-up patron of the old rare book is...
about all of it... typically found.And there is always a risk of a Cretan (Part One)... before their
shelves... visiting your roving biblioeye as soon as ‘onset’.That eye is hurried to its
damnation.“HOW CAN I

GO
HOME

TO
MY BOOKS?”

You
internalize as screech.And this
only if you are a ‘book person’.You are sure.Yes for you
know that life does absolutely go on for most without; “bookless”.Bibliobooklessness is the rage of
bibliomania these days:The...
that of God has damned the old rare books.Spine ends out are mostly shelved lies; often multiples of
Hansel and Gretel type fabricated crumb trails of affected efforts to... as I
already said above... ‘appear’.You know if you lie?You
think you do not?You feel there
is an... obvious biblio you?Well... I have to give notice that it is the books on the shelves that
give the answer to those self queries.You do not... give the answers.Your books do.

I
don’t say anything to anyone anymore.In the damned rare books world... silence resounds.But I did promise a... a lance of
abscess I called it (Part Three [B}):

“I
am not going to account this trash can found old ruined rare book... yet.I want to come back to it as a whole...
abscess... that I ...lance.The
book and its heritage is swell enough (as an old rare book) to be “FUN” doing
that... as well as being a sort of swell-fun secret of an old rare books
collector’s secrets... along ‘in there’ too.So I step away from the whole book and

Just
expostulate on the ‘and such’ I found within.” (the three broadside throwaway
handbill song sheets).”

Now
I come back to that (the glued up old book)... with us shipping in murky waters
too (the spine ends showing over your shoulders).I begin with a ‘do you have a THIS old book over there on a
shelf?’Not likely in my day to
day... you do know now?Well you
should know that by now.That; the
actual old rare book, is furtive.And anyway... this one is a ruined old rare book making itself a
newspaper clipping glued down repository and... therefore... all lost at
sea?NO.We are going to look at that book and its ...secrets of
secrets position on a shelf... and the MESSAGE that that shelving sends to a
biblio world within the damned world of the old rare books.

If
the book of query is on the shelf... look to the books on either side of it for
“more”.Good (skilled) old rare
books collectors are always shelving books relating to or about other books in
very close proximity to each other.They (the book collectors) do this themselves... obsessively.Yes:It is an obsessive action combining physical and mental
aspects.So, here, the bulging
newspaper clipping ruined-by-glue... old rare book... is more than one book...
on a collector’s shelf over past their shoulders that... well... I... spy.Yes:One book, two book... three books:“Oh.”.

The
conquest of the glued down newspaper clippings within the old rare book begins
with the curious action of the glue master... of ...skipping a glue down upon
the old rare book’s title page.“How odd”?No... a classic
‘just couldn’t do it’... hesitation and then failure to ‘totally destroy’.The verso (back) of the title
leaf is ‘clipping glued down’ but a... ‘still none the less’ of leaving the
title page pure. This leaves the lifeline of the old rare book for us to...
pull on and... “find out”.Find
out what?WHAT THE ruined BOOK
WAS... once... and, well... “still is”.I observe that all old rare books are all what they ‘still are’ whenever
they (or a lone ‘it’) trickles down in time to us (one holds the old rare
book... in hand... in... “time”).

But
I... just review the title... page... with its title, author, imprint and date
and... glory in that.OH LOOK how
foolish the old book is after all.It is a book of music?About music?Is music?Could still be music?Not likely for this last for the glue
has done its craft to nearly every page thereafter the ‘skipped’ title page and
it is only the very last leaves that are not a ‘glued down’ so show, well....
“music”.

I
do not care.The title page is
enough ‘swell-fun’ for a biblio-obsessed.I follow it on its bookshelf to the books on either side of “IT”.The first is ANOTHER of the “SAME
BOOK”.That is not true.It is actually another ‘edition’ of the
“SAME BOOK” with a delightfully similar title page AND a ‘two years later
“1827” imprint date.“OH.” so it
is ...not quite... a ‘the same’.The second copy is a “perfect” original condition copy showing,
inclusive of the gilt titled leather spine and... its printed blue paper stock
on stiff paper boards... front cover... repeating of the title with the
Printer’s promotional broadside printing on the rear outer cover board... too,
and... with all this... creating for my eye a... what the whole ‘ruined’ edition
should ‘look like’.“OH.” again...
with “nice” and even ‘fun-swell’ added too.So now we find that this book TOO is an old rare book TOO
and ... a positive delight too with...

Oh
no.... the original ruined book still too... being of appreciation and merit
TOO:A “still too”... too.Two books.

Three
books?Oh why not.The biblioeye and bibliofingers go to
that other side of the shelved ruined book and find (pulls forth) a... vintage
(second half of the 20th Century) pamphlet.Olive green printed wrappers... with
title on the wrapper front.This
title carries two bibliognoste action words; “Bibliography” and “Ithaca” (NY),
a coverage date of“1820-1850” and
an author’s name; “McMurtrie”.This last is a name so obsessive of American imprint bibliography...
that it (this name) may be itself... the definition of the world of old rare
books secrets of ‘obsessive’.All
this pamphlet title matter... is to old rare books collector’s a “take (only)
seconds”.

Of
little surprise then (?) that this last printed wisp (pamphlet) is the secret
to the secret of the... ‘this (ruined) old rare book’?Certainly it may be and... again I
point out... this shelving too is done-to-the current date BY the old rare books
collector who ‘shelved’ these (their) books... “in their collection”

I
save and savor these three books “for later”.Then (“later”):Alone, I pursue the bibliography first.For a record, one will not commonly find ANY bibliographies
at, for example, church book sales.These books (bibliography) travel in... and only in... old rare books
collector circles... and are God damned to only ever that... so that alone
explains why I ‘that one first’ of the three books.And I am rewarded.The first and ruined book, under the 1825 imprint hand list given within
the bibliography, records (in book collector grade obsessive detail)... “THAT
BOOK”.I quickly follow to the
“1827” hand list and find, too, the second ‘perfect’ copy recorded in obsessive
detail TOO.“Why... not poke this
bibliography’s hand lists some more?”I do and am amply rewarded by discover that this ‘book of music’ was
published every year of the 1820-1830 decade by this printer in Ithaca.IN FACT what is found is that the very
first... and single... old rare book printed in Ithaca in that first year
(1820) ‘ever’... is this book of music... there by being first and only book
published in 1820... being the 1820 edition of this book (of music).It (this title) was the first book
printed and published “THERE” (Ithaca, N.Y.).in 1820.Becoming a “Too”.

“Well
I’ll be” and there my personal bibliomane obsession, romance and (developed)
appreciation of the heritage of this old rare book AND the ‘art’ of that old
rare book (the ‘object’)... ends... with me... ready for my next rare book
adventure (flight of biblio fantasy.I am alone in this happy land... God has damned me.

A
simpler version of the resistance to the Bibliobooklessness; the obsession,
romance and appreciation... of the art... of the old rare book... has been
brought ‘news worthy’ to us all from the BBC in the last two weeks (May, 2017)
(goggle BBC William Caxton Printer).A leaf (a single piece of paper with printing on both sides (two pages)
has been found, after one hundred and ninety years (1820-2017) of it being collected,
to be a leaf from a very early William Caxton printed book (1400’s).He was England’s first ‘in English’
printer.Caxton has been
“collected” “forever”... so finding an early lone leaf... “is possible”.But this leaf... for I... touches the obsession,
the romance and the appreciation... of the old rare book... from how and where
it was found.Although not
identified until our current year (2017), the leaf was recorded as found at
Cambridge in 1820... where it (the leaf) was being used to reinforce the spine
binding of... another book.“What?” you say.SO:This page from an old book was used as
scrap paper and glued down within the spine binding of another old rare
book.In 1820, at Cambridge, a
somebody noted this, removed the leaf and preserved it with other such biblio
odd single leaf discoveries.Eventually (2017) this leaf was “researched” and the Caxton printed
deduced.

But
what do I care about; the biblio obsessed, romantically inclined and ‘wonder I’
appreciation?WHAT I BRING TO YOU
is that... did you know one may look inside old book bindings at their glued
down “scrap” papers hidden within and find... OLD RARE BOOK TREASURE?And that the bibliomane such as myself,
understanding that this hunt has been going on for centuries... DELIGHTS in
bibliomania that one may ‘do this’; hunt for printed paper wisps from old rare
books hidden and glued within the spines of other old rare books...?And again... this habit has been ‘done
for centuries’ by the old rare books collectors and dealers?Is this a secret of a secret?No.It is just a (old rare books) collector’s secret.

The
secret of the secret of this is... that... one must... if one wishes to leave
Bibliobooklessness behind... join this habitual.To do that one must ‘restring your biblio clothesline’.

And
clotheslines... re-stringing them is not a ‘quick’ or ‘simple’ endeavor
(work).No... it is a very long
wondering trail... of back and forth... stretched tight... with many old wooden
pins pinching the old rare book collector’s secrets to your ever restringing
‘needs to be tightened again’... biblioclothesline wonderworld.Is THIS (the ‘learning’ of old rare
books and the ‘leaving behind’ of Bibliobooklessness) then a... secret of the
old rare books collector’s secrets?

Yes
it is.

Look
‘behind the spine’ and over your shoulder at the ‘books I have shelved’ “behind
me”..

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Returning...
all the way back... to Part One and its... blue frosted cupcake servings
complaisant with servings of old rare books...:This conclave of neophyte wonderers and their mistress of
the old rare books secrets... including her doggie’s darkened library room’s
restless waits for tossed shortbread favors... takes a sudden turn to old print
on old paper... glued.

To
form an... old rare book... of itself.

This
sudden ‘with glue’ carries our old rare books “speaking of” Mistress (Madam?)
to show her as best light when it comes to the ruin of old rare books by the
‘on every page’ ‘glued in’.I...
do not suddenly lean forward in my chair... but as she (Madam) does... the
tentative audience... for the most part... peer over their noses and through
their glasses.

At
a new wonder.Purveyed.

Without
ever mentioning my church book sale (Part 3-B) trash can found ‘ruined’ ‘old
rare books’ acquisition... nor pointing a finger toward the modern rages of
‘glue gunning’ and ‘scrapbooking’...Benjamin’s caregiver and old rare book collector “extraordinaire”...
brings forth “A TREASURE” (her opening descriptive words) that ...shows its
‘self’ to me as an “Oh one of those” third quarter of the 19th Century
(1850-1875) glue-gah assemblage of ‘old printed paper’ “pasted in”... she
titled it.I call it ‘glued
down’.That is a variant of the
old rare book collector’s “Mounted Down” while her wording is a variant of the
old rare books collector’s “Tipped In”.Both of those terms and their actions are old rare books collector’s
secrets.To escape them the reader
is best off fumbling with their glue gun... plugged in... and ‘care be taken’
to NOT BURN YOURSELF.

I
take the treasure in stride:The
Victorian glued down printed paper in “an album” (a store bought... and
constructed to be this; a scrapbook)... a commercial ‘fancy’ that were coveted
by young people who... well... “did them” (made a glued down scrapbook of
‘pretty paper’...as best they could.

The
last is an ability and a... the materials to work with.“Pretty Paper” had to be discerned and
collected by the ... inner self... art eye... with this philosophical
imperative being of very modest depth... AND... this “Pretty Paper” had to be
too ...available.

For
best results.

Yes
and for those a little remote in an old Maine farmhouse... the getting of
enough pretty paper could take years... especially if one was of the ‘go into
town once a year’ set.Just the
thought of that is a ‘leap’ these days and... it is ... much easier to make
Benjamin leap in his darkened ‘old book room’ with a toss of shortbread.In any case... the ground rules of the
‘Victorian Scrapbook’ and it’s ‘scrapbooking’ are presented and now are shown
by the old rare book collector Madam... for she ... “has one” for all to “SEE”.

Now...
most of these (Victorian scrapbooks) are a middle-fair production... tending
toward the ‘not finished’ and ‘contents dull’ with a dash of ‘not very good at
it’ TOO.These albums are rapidly
‘leaved through’ (each page scrutinized) by knowing collectors and dealers...
looking for standout inclusions such as the noted three song sheet discovery
(Part 3-B)... and nothing more.That is a five minute full evaluation of both merit of content and...
monetary value... “OF THAT” (content).But:

Every
now and then the border lands are crossed by the discernment during scrutiny
that ‘this one’ (a discovered Victorian scrapbook)... “is special”.What ‘is special’ is ...is that the
whole glued ...old rare book... IS... of itself a WHOLE production being
(becoming to the critical eye) “GOOD”.“PRETTY”.“NICE”.And then becomes “a good one”.Here... Madam showed her conclave...
a... “one of those”.I knew this
right away but the rest became mired at “PRETTY” and never... needed to... or
thought of...

“Anything
more” (to it then that).But
Benjamin’s caregiver did get a “GOOD EFFORT” from me... and so spastic did I
become that I... tossed a shortbread edge off into the dark book room for
Benjamin.I received a
complimentary flip of Mistress Book Collector’s eyes from the... old rare books
collector... herself.From self.Of self... knowingly conveying... that
I did know that secret...

But
never the secret... of that secret?

That
is asking a lot... in this setting.The secret is a tactile, engineered and... ‘a touch of art eye’ paste
construction within the sameness of the commercial ‘scrapbook’.IF more story is told...; the gluing
paper expresses a soul....IF...
that... can be... there is a Secret of a Secret.But... radically avant-garde THAT allotment be in gathered
‘old rare books’ parlor talks and shortbread tossed... doggie favors.

No...:Mostly this ‘that’ never happens and
that is assured by the fore mentioned ‘middle-fair’. These of those do suggest a ‘getting there’... but rarely a
bomb blast of being ... a that-there.Here, this day, that is all we get; the Young Wonder’s... glued down...
her (his?) arrangement of pretty paper world view and... leaves us (the
centennial plus [100+ years old] viewers) with only that ‘pretty’ and ‘nice’
arrangement of inner soul.The
glued album closes... on that suggestive note.That is okay for the Secret of the Secret is the ‘knowing
this’ and that MAY sometimes be ...an expression of an avant-garde soul.Do you understand?

The
Secret of the Secret is ...knowing of... the secret.

In
this room... of the gathered old rare book collector’s show and tell talk...
this aspect of the scrapbook; it being an expression of soul... is... “LOST”.The best is the accomplishment of
‘pretty’ and ‘nice’ denoted as a conscious ‘glued’ expression... sort of

Maybe.

Just
toss the shortbread favor... off into the dark room of the book collector’s old
rare books... and be done with this notice of art... for the sake of art.I will always step forward and serve
myself when such circumstance DOES appear.This ‘good habit’ has been a deceptively trite way of I
showing how good art may be found ‘hidden’ in the common place... and how
easily it may go unnoticed.I am
always looking in the trash cans of this Secret of a Secret.An old rare book as an art form is not
a delusional missed perception.

It
is an honor to engage.

This
all brings us to a horror of the note that old rare books maybe, of themselves,
a more than meets an eye.Constantly.As a daily
creed.As a feature factor of the
that; God has damned the old rare book in our world.I have expanded the vantage of the old rare book?Yes I have and its expansion is well
past ‘nice’ but I will retain Benjamin as a keynote; a balance.For he is “nice”.

The
realm of the damned book (“pretty”) is the matter and it is a ‘usual matter’ to
I.Let us jump through the ‘God
has damned’ hoop again and see if we may discern another Secret... of a Secret.

“Yellow
Back”... is a last term defined in the books of old rare book terms defined; it
is last page... last term.A...
“Yellow Back”.Well it is not that
simple.It is the “Y” that makes
it ‘last’ and the “Y” is for the color ‘yellow’ and that, the definition
assures, MAY be the color but ‘not necessarily’.But we; the old rare books collector realm... and the God
damned old rare books realm... LIKES the color and the term so... that is
that... secret.“Yellow Back”
defines a certain specific school of publisher’s bound book that is puffed
(promoted) as a cheap English edition of a popular title that has a cheap cloth
over stiff paper boards cover... binding the cheap paper stock text. That cover
was, too, of a (once a long time ago in most cases) bright yellow glazed cloth
color.

To
know one is to see one and once this book collector’s secret is ‘known’ they
are easy to spot when they turn up (church basement book sales on the dollar
table).And you; the old rare book
collector or dealer, may become smug of self when you do... ‘find one’:A “Yellow Back Edition”.

No
one cares and you will have to learn that too.Carry your newly discovered yellow back over to the baked
goods table and... you will too... become ‘God Damned’.Let me be clear:These books are not, generally, ‘of
(monetary) value’.NONE of the
books I have been writing about are “valuable” as money.No.I said early on (Part One at the very end) that ...that...
makes one a ‘value-ist’... not an old rare book collector.Yellow Backs are what they are.And are... delightful... particularly
when self discovered... alone... while wandering “through” a church book
sale... or such.They were made to
be vended at cheap book stalls that ‘flew by night’ at train stations and boat docks,
street corners and theatre districts.They were a cheap read and didn’t hold up well from being this
‘cheap’.And the yellow cloth
bindings too... were brilliant hand held advertisements for themselves.Then thrown away, fell apart, lost
overboard, given away, passed along or... recklessly abandoned.But still always a ‘Yellow Back”.Yes and ‘goodness me’ still a Yellow
Back to this very day.I cannot
miss them.They are a book
collector’s secret to the eye.And... “Look at them!”... too.

I
illustrate with an 1879 London edition of “The Scarlet Letter”.“Who wrote that?”.Even Benjamin knows THAT.What train station sold it?NO!LOOK at the title page and discover an old ink stamp from an
English bookseller in Constantinople. “OH hasn’t THIS BOOK (a Yellow Back)
TRAVELED AROUND!”Yes... it has...
and see two already defined secrets of secrets at work here; obsessive
(obsession) and romantic (Romance).May there be another secret of a secret?YES!It is
titled ‘appreciation’.The more
obsessively one looks at the old traveled Yellow Back edition of The Scarlet
Letter, the more romantic it becomes and... the more appreciation of this
Yellow Back edition one has... for it:THIS COPY of THIS Edition...; the one from Constantinople.

That
is a Secret of the old book collector’s Secrets:Appreciation.

And
again... this book is of no monetary value...

It
is a simple old rare books collector’s... old rare book.It is that only.It has been damned by God in our
current world.And even Benjamin
knows this.I’d toss him a
petifore on that notice... if I had one.

About Me

This blog is about northern New England antiques and rare books. It is stories, vignettes and profiles of objects and stories of buying and selling these things. Most of the featured items, the settings and the stories are about traditional and classic New England antiques and rare books from before the Civil War.